


Whence

by Candasaurus



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 09:35:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21034121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candasaurus/pseuds/Candasaurus
Summary: He's taken aback at the slight, weak chuckle that escaped tar stained lips."I... I'm free... I'm... free... "-Character Death





	Whence

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick one shot because I'm like that.

The final smash of Ven's keyblade smacked harshly against the ebony helmet. A crack like thunder resonated within the maze walls, the silence afterwards pierced his ear drums. 

Dark smog exuded from Vanitas' worn form, he kneeled from his fallen position, keyblade falling heavily into the dirt, cracking and color dulling.

The glass shards of his helmet fell like stars, hitting the ground with the sound of tiny bells.

He looked up to his Light, heaving heavily, Keyblade still in a ready strike, Sora not too far away, looking unnerved at the replicated face across the battlefield. 

With a sudden surge, a dark miasma fled from the center of Vanitas' chest, rising to the sky, as if fleeing, from his open mouth. 

His screams rattled the Light's bones, Sora's Keyblade dismissing itself, Ventus taking a single step backward, flinching ever slightly as the cries came to a sudden halt, and ruby eyes landed in his.  
The acid amber no longer burning holes into him. 

He's taken aback at the slight, weak chuckle that escaped tar stained lips. 

"I... I'm free... I'm... free... " an almost sob welling up. The once malicious glare was soft now. Relief filled him to the rim of eyes, spilling over his pale cheeks. "I can't hear him anymore... he's gone... "

A shaky hand raised up and placed over his heart. 

Ventus gapped, his legs shook, dropping his weapon, he made to run towards his fading other half, the distance far greater than he wanted than a few moments prior.

The tendrils of darkness expanded, unthreading his very existence before his eyes. He reached out weakly, crying equally heavy tears, "Vanitas! Wait!"

Time moved painfully slow, but all too quickly. Vanitas fell forward, almost hoping to meet Ven, but his eyes are already unseeing, glossed over with the last strings of life snapping their hold.

Arms reached to hold him, knees scrapped against parched earth. But his embrace took only ashes. 

The small particles that touched his skin sizzled, and smoked. But it did not burn.

Wide, blurry eyes stared at nothing. No one was there to hold, to bring closer, to reassure. 

The barest flecks of light danced in front of him before blinking out of this realm. 

He couldn't breath. Lips trembled. Fingers twitching and trying to form around something. Someone. But they weren't there.  
As if respecting the grounds where the being of darkness last stood, Sora kneeled next to Ven, unable to bring himself to say anything. But he lifted his hand to Ventus' eye level, holding the remnants of the helmet. 

Ventus hadn't even noticed it had fallen off his other in his panic. He reached for it, Sora gently placing it into his tentative care.

Cradling it close to his chest, openly weeping at the loss he now felt. A part of him he hadn't realized had filled him, now gone. Leaving a gaping hole in his heart. 

If he were to dive down, would he be fractured again?

For an uncertain amount of time, he sat and wept. Willing the other to say at least one last snarky remark, call him names, anything. Anything. 

When his tears ran dry, he lifted to find Sora still beside him, quietly letting his own tears fall. Empathy knowing no bounds.  
His eyes landed on the fell Keyblade. 

The war was still at hand. And he can't mourn right now.  
Picking up the blade ever so gently, the echo of a hum of life tingled his fingertips, but then went cold. He stabbed into the unforgiving land. And placed the helmet atop. 

With one last gesture, he slid his thumb across the sharp edges of the jaw, skin splitting open, drawing blood. Giving himself a look in the full reflection of the cracked mask. Making a silent promise to himself, he would come back and fulfill it. 

He turned to Sora, nodded, then both ran to fight the next onslaught of battles.


End file.
